After a life-shaking breakup in Los Angeles, California, synthpop singer-songwriter and producer Sophia Del Pizzo (known artistically as MAKEUP), hailing from Eastbourne, UK, found herself questioning which relationships were truly genuine and which were shaped by proximity to someone else’s success.
It’s a tension many artists in the industry recognize: are people drawn to you for who you are, or for what they believe you can do for them?
MAKEUP’s latest single, “Unpopular,” produced by Bobbing and Cole Williams (the team behind Maz) and mastered by Zino Mikorey, channels this messaging in a floaty, dreamy, and spacious way, with vocals that drift effortlessly over the instrumentation, building a world that feels lived-in and immediately immersive from the moment you press play.
“Unpopular” arrives with a music video Del Pizzo describes as “slightly surreal, cinematic, a bit unhinged, but fun.”
Visually, the video leans into bright, vivacious red walls and handheld camera rawness, underscoring a subtle loneliness embedded in the pursuit of a dream you’ll do almost anything to make real.
Del Pizzo notes that “It also touches on beauty standards, age, and the reality of 10+ years as a performer”
“Unpopular” perfectly encompasses a freeze-frame moment of moving through discomfort, recognizing it, and choosing to find humor in it, a kind of “oh well” mentality without letting it stop you. A mentality most of us, both in and out of the music industry, could benefit from adopting so that uncomfortable moments don’t keep us down.